The delivery takes place in many different guises, with the focus being utilising the best combination of football development initiatives to meet the local needs.

The national framework illustrates various methods of delivery, with the most popular way to include taster sessions in schools, followed by a coaching course or festival, being supported by volunteer coaches from the local Charter Standard club.

However, this set of awards tries to recognise those pieces of work that have excelled in their football development delivery, pushing back the boundaries and attempting innovative approaches to hitting the outcomes.

The ‘National Innovation Award’ has several different categories, looking to recognize and reward good practice employed by key partners in the delivery of football development across a variety of target groups. The following projects are the winners of the inaugural and prestigious Award:

Girl's Football - Triple F:
Fitness and Fun Through Football Project, Wood Green SSP and Westcroft SSP, Birmingham CFA

This project aims to engage 14-16 year old females in alternative physical activity, using football as the tool. The project has worked with girls who don't respond or benefit from the normal physical activity offered in schools during curriculum and extra curricular time.

It has focused on reducing weight problems in large/obese girls and stimulating a healthier attitude to an active lifestyle, encouraged girls to take on new roles around leadership and coaching and improving self-confidence in meeting and succeeding with new challenges.

67% of females in Sandwell now play for a local football team and 45% of Triple F participants have said the project has made them want to continue exercise and stay healthy, whilst 25% now want to continue onto Level 1 Coaching Courses and 72% would like to continue the Triple F programme in their school.

Ability to Succeed - FC Phoenix, Herefordshire CFA

This Charter Standard Community Club have worked very hard within Hereford and alongside the County FA to ensure a structure to provide a solid base for the development and inclusion of disabled football in the county.

This has involved them setting up a PAN disability development centre, along with evenings to encourage new coaches, helpers, teachers and parents into the club as new volunteers.

Links have been made with three schools and have involved club volunteers delivering five week taster sessions in the schools, and also run open age sessions at the local leisure centre for older children and adults and the team now compete in the West Midlands Ability Counts League. They are set to continue their developments by opening a wheelchair football centre, which is hoped to become the regional hub for this activity.

Football for All - Communities United Project, West Riding CFA

The aim of this project was about engaging young people in sport and recreation where previously no opportunities existed, and no club was available for young people to participate within. Following coaching sessions in six local primary schools and festivals following this activity, a community club was created and weekly sessions began for young people in the Huddersfield area.

The sessions have been such a success that two new teams have been created from scratch, run by local volunteers trained through the CUP support. The more the volunteers give up their time the more training the CUP will support them with, ensuring an ongoing professional development programme and recognising rewarding the efforts of their workforce of local people.

The benefits have seen a new sustainable club structure created, delivered by local volunteers, a community spirit fostered in the local area and reduced anti-social behaviour levels.

Urban Sounds - Eastmount Community and Sport Regeneration Project, East Riding CFA

The Longhill ward is ranked 530 in the national index of multiple deprivation and has been targeted for a major regeneration and urban renewal project. Following a substantial Football Foundation grant, the project has further utilised 3 Lions FC funding to organise a programme of coaching in primary schools and created the Longhill Football Academy as an exit route for young people to play, with over 50 children attending each week.

A new club was formed, with six local volunteers completing the Level 1 and forming the coaching staff, having been mentored by existing FA coaches. They have also supported five schools to achieve The FA Charter Standard Schools Award and the new set up have gained the Clubs Award. The start of the 2005/06 season saw four new teams begin from these links with the schools with a new girls team to follow.

This has been supplemented by a twilight football programme, aimed at using football as a diversionary tool to anti-social behaviour and has been such a success this has been extended to other areas of the city.

Rural Activity - Mitcheldean Juniors FC, Gloucestershire FA

Based in the Forest of Dean, this club has steadily grown from three players attending the first session two seasons ago to seven teams for the coming season from mini soccer to 11-a-side, boys and girls. This has been enabled to happen through links with local schools and a meaningful relationship between the two.

The club don’t pay for use of the school site, but have developed the relationship but organising fun runs and fetes to raise money for the school. Further to extra curricular sessions, a qualified coach from the club also supports the primary schools with PE lessons on the curriculum and have developed further links with a secondary school to support the pathway for new girls into the Charter Standard Club.

Last season saw the club put seven parents through the Level 1 course to support the running of new teams, with two progressing to their Level 2 this summer.

Education and Learning Through Football - Calverton Miners Welfare FC, Nottinghamshire CFA

The club have taken an innovative approach to tackling healthy eating in schools by turning their 3 Lions FC coaching courses into ones looking at the issues of child obesity, using football as the catalyst for change.

Using the 3 Lions FC brand, Calverton advertised their project to children in the three local primary schools within reach of The FA Community Club, by sending in qualified coaches to deliver extra curricular clubs and taster sessions.

During lunch breaks, the clubs qualified nutritionist delivered enjoyable sessions on eating and drinking, educating the children on 'The Balance of Good Health' and providing them with a nutritionally balanced lunch at the club. Building on the success of this project, the Nottinghamshire FA are using the club and nutritionist to deliver in-service training to other FA Charter Standard Clubs.

Futsal - The making of the game - Brownedge St. Mary's RC High School and Sports College, Lancashire FA

The Physical Education Department at the secondary school have successfully implemented a futsal programme to promote physical activity to all year groups (7-11), boys and girls, in the curriculum and been incorporated into football / health and fitness / leadership modules, as well as extra curricular activity.

Staff have attended The FA Introduction to Futsal course and used the resources from this course to effectively plan lessons. Further to this, the PE department have developed a futsal skills circuit and SAQ circuit which has been used to promote both skill and fitness development.

Games have been timetabled prior to school beginning, which has led to a reduction in the number of playground incidents and involved the Year 10 pupils organising and officiating at this fixtures as part of their FA Junior Football Organisers award, with the results linked to the whole school House Points system.

This has also been themed around the World Cup with each form group being given a different country to represent and gaining more house points by researching and learning about that country, developing a whole school ethos to the development of futsal and the World Cup.

The winners of the award will be presented with a pre-match presentation and buffet, certificate, FA gifts and eight tickets to the England v Jamaica game at Old Trafford on Saturday 3 June.

The will also have the chance for their case studies to be turned into real life and used on a national celebration of good practice on a CD-Rom used to promote the work of the club links programme.